The map you see above contains no visual data except for the location of every street in the contiguous 48 states. No borders, no geographic demarcation, no coasts — nothing. >

Created by MIT Media Lab graduate Ben Fry, it was originally intendedto organize street naming patterns by local flora, but as soon as hebegan to collect the data, that became impossible. “Cookie cuttersuburban neighborhood developments seem to have obliterated anycausation. 'Magnolia' is such a nice-sounding, outdoorsy word; whowouldn’t want it adorning their street corner? Local flora be damned,”Ben explains.

What we’re left with is the exact geographic location of the 26 millionindividual segments that make up the American road network. Borders,mountains, bodies of water and population density are visualized instriking accuracy by the way the roads adapt to them. The result is avisual realization of the experience you and I have every time weset out for a ride.